There's some glass, there's some drugs. Who cares? Don't die!

 เฮลโล Hello!

This week was full of service! The past few weeks it's been hard to find things to do, but this week we had more things than we had time for. It was the best!! Lots of weeding, clearing blackberry bushes, branch breaking, cleaning up an old church building, and that's just the tip of the iceberg! It's been hard to find people to teach, and we didn't have very many lessons, but it's ok! We're going to keep trying!

USE YOUR HEAD

We played lots and lots of takraw this week. We've gotten pretty good. Just me and Elder Stradling beat a team of 3 Thai guys! Was it a fluke? Irrelevant. Stop that. It was so much fun, though. We got to play 3 times this week, and my teammates have learned that if they set me up for a header, it's game over, man. We've been trying extra hard to set up some lessons and we only got to do one with Ted. We tried to get him to accept a Book of Mormon. He's not interested in switching denominations... for now. We're not gonna completely give up there.

GET SOME GRUB

We've had some really good food this week. Some amazing baby back ribs from Brother Foster of the Benson Hill Barbecue Club, more random barbecue with other members, phillipines eggrolls and curry, and even Brother O'Brien buying us some Big Macs. There was a good stretch of days were we didn't even eat at our house. It was the best.

สบายดี (Fine)

We had a barbecue with a few families from around Benson Hill. There's a family in our ward that speaks Lao and since it's close to Thai and I speak a little bit of Esan, I got to have some fun. The youngest girl, like 5 years old, was waiting in line and my companion is trying to "Sawatdee kap" her and shes just looking confused. So I gave her a wai and said "sabaidee" and she gave me the little sabaidee back and did the cute little girl dip and wai and went to get her food. My heartttttt. So cute haha. And her mom talked to me and Elder Stradling in Thai and all of it was just coming back to me. All of my Thai abiliyy to understand and especially speak just came flooding back to me. It was the best. She was like, "how long were you in Thailand?" "3 months" "just 3 months and you already speak Thai this well??" It was a good feeling. Gift of tongues let's go! It's been the first time in a while I've really just felt like a missionary.

UM THAT'S A NO

We cleaned up an old church building in downtown Renton that's been out of use for a long time. The parking lot was covered with leaves, trash, clothes, and even some used needles! Wowza! I'm not saying they're heroin needles. But I'm strongly implying that they are heroin needles. We were careful. And we're all safe and ok. But between that and the piles of poop, it's safe to say that's the sketchiest church building I've ever been to.

HELAMAN 5 IS DOPE

Read it. It's such a cool chapter. I've been trying to think of ways that I can be better. Because if I settle for just being good, I'm not going to get to where God wants me to be. I noticed this week that I'm doing all of the things I'm supposed to do, but I wondered if my heart was really in it. So I wrote on a piece of paper: "Can I Be BETTER?" and pinned it on the wall in front of my desk. And I've been praying and listening for God's voice as I read scriptures. Every time I find a scripture that feels like it's God telling me how to get better, I write down the reference and think about how I can apply it to myself. One of the scriptures I put up was Helaman 5:12. I'm sure a ton of you know this one already, 

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Please remember to build your foundation on the Rock of Christ!!! If your beliefs are centered on Christ, they cannot fall. I'll keep working on it, and you should too.

LAST THINGS LAST

- sand volleyball is fun, but try not to get yourself scratched up on the concrete 6 inches deep.

- best poptart flavor? Other than brown sugar cinnamon, of course. Am I missing out on anything in that area?

- abs are coming.

- we converted Tiffany Park to the pineapple whip. Not that it was hard. If you have not had a Pineapple whip, I plead with you. Drink one now.

- I love good jams, pina colada? Wow! But you know what I love even more? You!

ดาบพิฆาตอสูร (Demon Slayer Sword)

Elder Barrett

The Benson Hill BBQ Club

Some terrifying needles we found!

Baby Bunnies. Heck yeah.

The world's greatest flag.

Hello!

 เฮลโล Hello!

Looks like it's that time of the week again. The weeks are starting to kinda bleed together. It's difficult to remember what actually happened this week, but there are a few highlights I can talk about, if you're into that. Haha just kidding. Unless...?

READ IT, LOIS

Because of the all the new missionaries poaching our friends, were left with 1.5 of the original like 9 haha. But that might be a blessing in disguise, because now we can focus on doing the best we can with what we have! We had an official lesson with Lois!!! She's the best! We got to have lunch with her and a Sister in the ward and had a restoration lesson with them! The spirit was so strong and it went by much smoother than our last lesson with Ramon. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said that God has been guiding her life up to this point and that He still is. Yes He is!!! We have really high hopes for her. She's so great! :)

TAKRAW

Just another weekly dose of takraw news. Never gets old. We got to play in a park right in the middle of downtown Bellevue. It was gorgeous and we got to meet a new Thai guy! His name is Gan and he lives in Fairwood right next to us!!! We are gonna try to get into better contact with him. Takraw is amazing, but between all the bicycle kicks and headers, it's hard to fit in gospel discussions. So this week, were going to be bold and just really try hard to force em in there. Wish us luck!

STREET PERFORMERS 

Mom aren't you proud of me? Got my high school diploma and moved out to play music in the streets of Renton, Washington! No, please don't cut me off. I can explain! On Sunday, 6 of us Elders grabbed guitars and violins and played some hymns in the evening at Coulon Beach Park! It was super fun! No one really stopped to talk to us, and we were a little sloppy, but we're hoping having sisters come with us next time would make it actually sound good haha. But I love how easy it is to feel the spirit through music. It's something that I've noticed more and more recently. If you know me well, you know how much I love my music. If you don't, listen to my Spotify. It's good stuff ;) it just feels good to share the spirit with others through the joy of music!

REPENT YE, REPENT YE

I've been listening to some OLD conference talks. How old? How does 1971 sound? I loved listening to "Out of the Darkness" by Joseph Fielding Smith in the April 1971 Conference. It says: "There is no need for anyone to remain in darkness; the light of the everlasting gospel is here; and every sincere investigator on earth can gain a personal witness from the Holy Spirit of the truth and divine nature of the Lord’s work." I'm a missionary and I still need to do so much better at sharing the light of the everlasting gospel with everyone. No one should remain in darkness. I've noticed the difference in my life when I am including God and when I'm not. It is a darkness. It's isolating. And unlike when I'm on the basketball court, when I'm isolated it can only end poorly. There's something we can all be doing better to bring people out of the darkness. Whether it's yourself or others, help someone back into the light and joy of the everlasting gospel this week! Remember, nothing gets done without love!

LAST THINGS LAST

- the Embark app did not try very hard with Thai.

- I suck at board games. But I refuse to give up. Andy Bernard does not lose competitions. He wins them. Or quits, because they're unfair.

- I've been balling up with BYU commits, nbd. Clamps, y'know?

- my 5k time has dropped significantly since my xc days. Rest in peace.

- you are a wonderful human person. I love you.

เอ็ลเดอร์ เหนื่อยจะตาย  (Elder tired to die)

Elder Barrett 

Ok... Then Go Get the Power Saw!

 เฮลโล Hello!

Howdy howdy! It's been another week in the life over here. It was a slower week, with a LOT of time spent inside. But a few cool things still happened, believe it or not, and that's why my email is still so long haha.

ช่วยด้วย (Help please)

More and more Takraw this week! We are definitely the best guavas they've ever seen play before. But we actually got to sit down with Ted, kinda the head honcho, and share the Godhead and Prayer lesson! While we were waiting for more people to show up, Ted and us all sat down and he says, "alright. So let's talk about God!" Love him. He is a Christian, so he shares a lot of our beliefs and has really great faith! We've given his family a Book of Mormon already and were really pushing to get him to read it!! Well see how it goes. Hopefully he isnt just being เกรงใจ.

再见我的朋友 (Goodbye my friend)

Our Zone has Chinese Elders now!!! So we got to have a lesson with Julia, where we kinda handed her off to them. We got to listen to a full restoration lesson in Chinese! I understood a lot more than I thought I would. Thanks for that, Ge Laoshi. And the spirit was really strong! We're going to miss Julia for sure, but she's in good hands and I'm hoping she'll keep going down the covenant path! Also, now I can definitively say that I'm glad I was assigned Thai speaking, because I can definitely say it's a cooler language than Chinese. Dui bu qi ba ba.

WORKING HARD OR HARDLY WORKING

Honestly, it's kinda hard to tell sometimes. We're determined this transfer to be more consecrated missionaries. Turns out, it's a lot easier to be consecrated when you can actually be out and about talking to and meeting people. Trying to find people on Facebook drains my very soul, and it's so hard to feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. It's like ending a movie on a cliffhanger and watching the sequel the next day and ending on the exact same cliffhanger. Yeah, it's a bit of a grind. But it's ok, cuz I signed up for it. Were doing great at getting our studies done and we're exercising almost every day. Getting in those (almost) daily runs, and working out with a member family who is setting up a whole program for us. Never before have I had so many protein shakes. And I know what you're thinking, "But Elder! You're jacked beyond belief already! You didnt already lift?? No whey!" Well I'm here to set the record straight: Whey.

LAST THINGS LAST

 - Yesterday was my Grandma Clarke's birthday as well as my 10 month mark!

 - Thank you so much everyone who sent me emails and packages and are even making spotify playlists for me! Y'all are the real MVP's.

 - We have a car. And free access to the entire mission. And 1500 miles to use. Let's get to WORK!

 - I love my fan. Helps me fall asleep, it's the best. But y'know what I really really love? YOU! Don't forget it!

เอ็ลเดอร์ คุณแม้ยกไหม (Elder, are you even raised?)

Elder Barrett

(Also just as a heads up, I've been changing the Thai name every weekly email. I think they're funny and I'm very proud of this one, so if you would translate it, please?)

My Feet are Sore

 เฮลโล Hello!

It's been a beautiful week over here in Renton, Washington. And by beautiful, I mean rainy, but still fun! I got a guitar and we got a car! We got some more service done, and we even got to play takraw with Thai people!

เก่งมาก (Very good)

We played takraw! We got special permission to go up to the factoria building and we played actual takraw with Thai people! Kendrick from last week and his dad, Ted, are in charge of it. When we got there it was just us and their friend, jack. Then all of a sudden, a van full of Thai people from a restaurant nearby jump out and we had games going! So much fun. As it turns out, I'm a lot more coordinated with my head than I am with my feet. So I was good at heading it over the net. 6' may not be super tall for a white guy, but it is for a Thai haha. Hopefully well get to teach some of them soon, we've been doubling down on our Thai study for it! But all this takraw playing has made my feet sore and bruised, so hopefully I wont die trying to make Thai friends haha.

การรับใช้ (Service)

The service opportunities weren't as common as the last few weeks, but we did have some really good ones! We got to weed and de-moss her backyard. We finished a good 45 minutes quicker than she expected us to haha. Were hoping to set up a lunch with her and a member this week! We went to a park to prune, dig, add woodchips, weed, hoe, you name it. It was actually a ton of fun because we had the whole zone there. We had another car wash on saturday! Free car washes should get a ton of business, right? Wrong! Why? Here's why: Seattle is rainy. Especially saturday. So, not too much got done that day. We did get to practice some takraw and I even met someone who went to Kamehameha High School, so that's pretty sweet, right? We got to yell at cars to come to the car wash again... not quite as effective this time. Still fun, though!

การสวดอ้อนวอน (Prayer)

I wanna talk about the power of prayer. It's so real, you guys. I've felt my Father in Heaven's presence through prayer during some of my more difficult days this week. Have meaningful daily prayers, y'all! Seriously! I'm not kidding. It makes a difference. All of the stress, frustrations, or anything weighing you down in your life can be relieved through sincere prayer. I had an experience on Sunday where we couldn't find a family's house. It didnt exist, I swear. We stopped for a sec to try to find it on the map and I got the feeling that we needed to pray. This isn't one of those huge unbelievable miracle stories. The house didnt fall out of the sky or anything. We didn't ever find it. But as soon as I closed the prayer, I felt peace and hope replace all my annoyance and frustration. So, you guys, my message is pray!!! Pray in your families, pray in your own personal time, pray whenever you can! It truly helps!

LAST THINGS LAST

- Pineapple whip counter: 15

- I am now the Lord of All (Dice) Catan

- Mom, thanks for teaching me how to make enchiladas. อร่อย

- I got a guitar finally! So I've been jamming in some of my free time.

- My mission is constantly changing, all of our lives are constantly changing, but one thing hasn't changed. Anybody wanna take a guess? It's Jesus. He loves you all! And (slightly less importantly) so do I!

เอ็ลเดอร์ มีรถอยู่ (Elder has a car.)

Elder Barrett

ALL HAIL! The Lord of All Catan!

เฮลโล Herro!

Quite the week, y'all. Thai people, bunnies, tan lines, cookies on cookies on cookies, and even Dice Catan! Although it turns out, I'm allergic to bunnies, too many cookies make us fat, and I am terrible at Dice Catan. But Thai people are still dope.

OK WE'RE GONNA TRY A ZONE DEFENSE

We had Zone Conference this week! Since Elder Stradling and I were technically finishing up our 14th day of Rona Review, we had to wear masks the whole time and hide in the corner. We still got called out a lot and even had to go up to the front with the rest of the reassigned missionaries and tell the rest of the missionaries about how to be missionaries. It was very uncomfy. But we got to meet a lot of people and some people actually knew the Hammonds, so shoutout to ไก่ทอด! But after we left Zone Conference, we hit up Cafe Rio in Federal Way for tasty tuesday!!!!! It was a fiesta for sure.

FASTER

We did some more service this week! We moved a surprising amount of woodchips, rolled up and moved sod, weeded, moved more woodchips, and power washed a deck! It's good that we've had this many service opportunities, because other than that, there really isn't anything to do. But we did get to hold bunnies so that's not nothing.

คนไทย (Thai)

We are making steps into the Thai community. We got to order Thai food using the best language in the Thailand area, met the restaurant worker, and had him very impressed. He even said my favorite sentence to hear Thai people say, พูดไทยเก่งนะ so bless up. We also got to meet some missionaries in ธนบุรี to plan for English class. And best of all, we met Kendrick, who is a total beast. We played ตะกร้อ, the foot volleyball game you might have seen before, and we might get to meet more Thai people and play more sweet sweet ตะกร้อ. We have Kendrick a BoM and we're hoping to be able to meet his family!

ALL HAIL

We got Bananagrams and the Catan Dice game this week to help us fill in time when nothing could get done. I do pretty well in bananagrams, but oh no I'm so bad at Dice Catan. It's pretty sad. But Pierce is and will always be the Lord of All Catan. All hail! Real Catan is so much more fun anyways haha.

LAST THINGS LAST

- Pineapple Whip Counter: 11

- We converted the APs to the Pineapple Whip, not that it's hard to do.

- GIFs are pretty much banned, but we won't accept defeat that easily.

- I'm living in Washington and still haven't played pickleball. How sad is that?

- Hey you! Listen to me. You listen to Ignacio. I love you.

เอ็ลเดอร์ อาบน้ำเย็น (Elder takes a cold shower.)

Elder Barrett

- ladies, take a look at this tan line.

- biking boy. That's Mount Rainier on the horizon!

- the งู (snake)

- Beach Bunny